Nelson mountain location for the Community Solar Garden

 I met with Mr. Alex Love, manager/engineer of Nelson Hydro.  Gave him years of solar data for Nelson, he told me he was an engineer, and all the data I had was irrelevant.


I sent all this information to city council and Mr. Love, yet in October he sent his men up  to install his sunlight data collection equipment in view of the future community solar garden being installed up on Nelson mountain.  Mr. Love came to us from Yukon Power where he was Director of Technical Services, they have two multi million dollar wind turbines on their hill outside town that never will turn again, rime icing and expense of travel for maintenance they shut them down.  Rime icing in the Yukon, who wuda thunk it?  But they tried heat tapes, likely took more power than the power the wind turbines made?
                                                                                                                                                                         Just where is this solar garden going?

                              Nelson Mountain showing 80 ft tower and 131 ft tower and guy wires 

I first went onto Nelson mtn 40 years ago to maintain equipment, the 80 ft. tower in the foreground collapsed a few years ago due to extreme ice loading.  The city electrical crew were involved in the repair, did Mr. Love ask his crew about winter conditions on Nelson mtn?

There are several users,  CBC, City police and hydro, Min. of Trans., Forest Svc., Rogers Cellphone, no one has a solar panel near those towers, they won't survive.

                                                                     Remember the Port Mann bridge
ice bombs, well your solar panels could look like this if you put them on Nelson mountain anywhere near these towers and guy wires.










One more view of the two towers
 on Nelson mtn.  You can see what
look like platforms, these are ice fall
 protection steel grids to protect
antennas beneath from falling ice.


When the guy wires load up with
ice they also shed ice bombs.
  I have had to climb that tower
using an axe to chop ice for steps
 to repair antennae.

This mountain is no place for
 a community solar garden.


So when a city councilor says to me we have qualified people, I leave that up to you to decide.  All I can do is try to help.  I gave them all this information.

So if you feel this is wasting your money let city council know and pass it forward to all Nelson hydro customers who are paying.

                                Nelson mountain towers

    

                                    

         

Here is what happens in severe winters, this is one of my solar sites, the foreground frame held four solar panels in the fall, and there are no guy wires or towers here, this damage was caused by high winds blowing ice chunks onto the panels that are nowhere to be seen.

google "german solar failure"  "Ontario solar failure"


If you think Nelson hydro should act like a business, instead of spending our money on a feel good philosophical but misguided project  contact city council at link below.

http://www.nelson.ca/contact-staff/emailContact.aspx?id=42515